RFID technology is a communication technology that uses a wireless signal to identify a specific target and read/write data. No physical or optical contact is needed between the specific target and a data reader implementing the RFID technology. Thus, as compared to bar-code devices, RFID devices are much more convenient to identify/read/write data.
Since RFID technology is widely employed in the fields of logistics management, public consumption, identification and smart homes and offices to provide greatly improved user convenience, many companies are increasingly investing in RFID research and design. Notably, in addition to the fact that the cost of RFID technology is not low enough to totally replace bar-code systems, RFID technology also has a problem of unsatisfactory data security. That is, an important issue in the RFID field is how to ensure that the data is not unintentionally revealed during the process of exchanging wireless signals.
As far as the EPC UHF (class 1 generation 2) C1G2 RFID standard is concerned, any RFID device compliant with the standard is capable of accessing any C1G2 compliant RFID tag. The RFID tag has an authentication mechanism such as setting a password in advance to prevent an unauthorized RFID device from accessing data stored in memory inside the RFID tag. However, when an unauthorized RFID device learns the existence of the authentication mechanism, the unauthorized RFID device may persistently try to break that authentication mechanism. Provided that time is sufficient, the authentication mechanism of the RFID may be “hacked” or compromised.